Priyanka Chopra visits Mary Kom's native village

IMPHAL: Actress Priyanka Chopra on Tuesday visited boxer Mary Kom's native Kangathel village in Churachandpur district as part of a research project of Sanjay Leela Banshali's new movie in which the former Miss World will essay the role of the Olympics bronze medalist.
Along with Omung Kumar, the director of the movie, Priyanka did a two-day study on Mary's real life since they landed in Imphal on Monday afternoon.
Priyanka and Omung on Monday made a whirlwind tour in Imphal visiting Mary's residence at Langol Games village here before meeting Mary's long-time boxing coach L Ibomcha Singh at Khuman Lampak sports complex .
At Kangathel village on Tuesday morning, Priyanka met Mary's parents and had "sethai buhlom", a local bread, besides joining a traditional Kom dance with the villagers. She also visited "Ima market" in Imphal, the only market run by women in the world, and bought some local clothes.
"We have seen everything Mary has shown us and she has been very gracious," said Priyanka at a media conference on Tuesday morning before wrapping up her maiden Manipur stint.
"Everything about Mary is fascinating and she is my favourite topic right now. I have to learn certain aspects of boxing to energize my role for Mary's biopic," the Barfi actress said and added that it was a last-minute decision to come down to Manipur.
Stating that they are from the Hindi movie industry, Priyanka said the new project would be a Hindi feature film. "Manipur is so beautiful, I've travelled most parts of the northeast and I got the opportunity to see this place. I love the food and I'm eager to visit the state again," she said.
On being asked about the cast who will play the roles of Mary's husband Onler Kom, her family members and others, director Omang said, "We haven't finalized the cast yet."
"We are also yet to decide whether or not there will be Manipur actors in the film and we have so much to put into the film," the director said. He added that parts of film will be shot in Manipur and those who like and love Mary are the target audience.
A few days after Mary won bronze in London Olympics in August last year, the Okram Ibobi Singh government promoted her to the post of SP (Sports).